Mental health consultation and the phenomenon of counteridentification

Summary In addition to the use of the term as a specific type of countertransference reaction, it is proposed that the term “counteridentification” also be used to describe an excessive and inappropriate identification on the part of a mental health consultant with all or a portion of the value system of a consultee or consultee organization. It is suggested that this is a ubiquitous phenomenon in all mental health consultation, since mutual identification between consultant and consultee appears to be a prerequisite for the development of an effective consultative relationship. It is also suggested that such counteridentification may prove disruptive to the consultative relationship, as well as injurious to individual clients and patients. If these impressions are correct, then there is additional support for Caplan's admonition to all workers in the field of mental health consultation: “The need for professional self-awareness and self-control in this area is similar to that which is familiar to us in our interaction with individual patients. The difference is that the therapeutic role of the psychiatrist has become well defined, as has the complementary role of patients, as a result of many years of experience and as a development of a much older doctor-patient role relationship in the general medical field. The role of the preventive psychiatrist in social action is relatively new, and its development must be carefully watched to ensure adequate professional safeguards.”